Back to the Brick laying...

March 24 2021 - 2nd April 2021

Well, with me being furloughed and all, I have taken back up the Orangery project.  Lots of time and events have passed since my last posting from August 2019.  I have yet to be able to return to see my Dad in America since that last post. Who would have thought that we would ever be blocked by a virus and inhibited from doing any traveling.  And here we are nearly a year and a half later and still stuck at home.

Lots has hppened over that time - not all of it good - but I have learned to make bread at home (yes, a bit clichéd at this point but when life gives you lemons -but I do make a really good kick ass schiacciata now!), finished three cross stitch projects, rekindled my love for opera (thanks to many streamed performances by the Met in NY), finally found a part time job closer to home so quit my full time job only to be then unceremoniously dismissed after not even six months (due to the market collapse in textiles here in Italy) leaving me in limbo - neither employed nor unemployed as it is illegal right now to fire people in Italy - and with no income per se, have a MS flare up after nine years of nearly nil health events and losing the use of my right eye (but it's nearly back to normal now - just wasn’t fun having to find treatment in the middle of a pandemic), and, finally, taking some exercise by walking much more than I have in years. I figured I’m not getting any younger, I’m just getting fatter (all that good food, wine and bread) and need to start thinking at least for my heart health.  So, maybe I can make 2021 better for me - but I do have a feeling I’m going to have to beat 2021 into submission - it hasn’t honestly started out that great and I do not intend to pass another year like 2020.  Not without a fight anyway.

So, getting back to my Tea Room, I found the walls that I had started the brick work on.  I was regretting having decided to use this project to learn how to do brickwork since the bricks do not in fact lay flush to the building (and I had also seen a very effective use of the embossed sheets of brickwork on another project that was quite convincing and infinitely easier) but I worked today on making some templates to help keep the mortar mix from oozing everywhere. (I also worked with a dremel bit to see if I could clean up the edges of where mortar was not quite clean and it worked fine - so mistakes are reversible.) Given that, I will stick with these bricks for now. Although I did purchase a sheet just in case - and I do like it too.  But seems way to flat - not 3D enough - so I’m sure I can use it in another part of the build (thinking the edges of the orangery platform for example).

Working on the small template for the mortar

So, after the Miniaturitalia show (which was held on line this year end March) and me making way too many purchases (I will dedicate a post to those as soon as they all arrive as well as my review of the show - for me very positive) I finally got around to tackling the brickwork on the remaining panels. In one afternoon, I managed to mortar up three small and two large sections.  The mortar is still a bit tricky but after applying the mix to the panels and scraping and sponging them down before they dry solid, they looked fairly good.  The small template did not hold up to the humidity (amount of water using during the mortaring phase) so it required some reinforcing. I added some masking tape, gave it a layer of glue and then gave both templates a coat of varnish. Hopefully that will stop the damp from eating away at the wood junctures.

smoothing and squishing in the mortar

scraping back the excess

The next day, the brickwork was dry enough to be cleaned up a bit. Clearly it is quite dirty and with a grey patina. I don’t really mind it since I plan on giving all the brickwork an aged look - even with a greenish hue where mold or plants are starting to grow over the brickwork.  I had even thought about covering them at the bottom with ivy or something but will have to wait and see. So, while the templates are drying, I figured I’d write out a quick post to show you that I am getting back into the project.  It still feels daunting as all new projects do when you’re winging it. But hey, that’s where the fun lies in it.

The panel on the right was from the first brick laying, the central one from last night.